Nanotechnology in Biology

1. Nanotechnology in Biology Louie A. Baca, Jr. and Eric Hagedorn

2. Size and Measurement (Overview) • Thought probing questions asked to students to introduce upcoming topic Examples: • What is nano? • What is a nanometer? • How small is a nanometer?

3. Size and Measurement Overview • Lecture: cell and cell structure • introduction of new concepts/awaken prior knowledge • This lesson follows chapter on measurements in the district’s scope and sequence • Students paired for size and sort activity (size predictions made)

4. Activity 1: “How Small Am I?” • Set of ten cards given to students dealing with cell structure as well as genetic material and individual organisms • Examples: nucleus, virus, DNA strand, ribosomes, endoplasmic reticulum, eukaryotic cell, etc. • Students will then put objects in order from smallest to largest and record answers on data sheet

5. Activity 1: Continued • Relative size will then be determined given a standard to compare to • Example: compare the size of five of the structures to that of the cell’s nucleus (relative size provided) • Results will be recorded in data sheet • Lecture following activity to introduce how nano-sized objects are measured (intro into microscopes and microscopy)

6. Nanotechnology • Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter at a scale of 1 to 100 nanometers. • Using nanotechnology we can control molecules at an atomic level and create materials with unique properties. • A nanometer is 10-9 (a billionth) of a meter. The prefix nano is Greek for dwarf. • As a reference point, a hair is approximately 100,000 nanometers. • A red blood cell is approximately 10,000 nanometers. • See diagram on the following slice and images fromwww.nbtc.cornell.edu, www.denniskunkel.com, and http://www.nanohub.org/resources/?id=90

7. Why is nanotechnology so important? • Fundamentally the properties of materials can be changed by nanotechnology. • We can arrange molecules in a way that they do not normally occur in nature. • The material strength, electronic and optical properties of materials can all be altered using nanotechnology.

8. Manipulating Matter at the Nanoscale Three methods • Pick them up and move them • Pattern them (lithography) • Use self-assembly

9. 1. Pick Them Up The tip of an AFM can be used to move a molecule if you can figure out how to ‘pick up’ and then release the molecule. This is one of the more famous ‘real’ images of nanotechnology. In the mid-1980’s, IBM spelled their logo using thirteen xenon atoms. Each atom was picked up using an AFM tip and moved into place. While the picture suggests a very nice stable arrangement the atoms were in fact continuously moving and the ‘letters’ were short lived.

10. WHAT IS THIS FIGURE?

11. 2. Lithography • All nanometer sized electronic components are made using a process called lithography. • Alois Senefelder of Munich discovered the basic principle of lithography, “printing on stone”, around 1798. • It is based upon the notion that oil and water do not mix. • Photolithography involves using energy (e.g., light or electrons) to change the solubility of a material. • Photolithography literally means light-stone-writing in Greek. • An image can be produced on a surface by drawing with light or electrons much the same way that you might scratch away the crayon on a scratch board

12. Activities • Patterns can be made on a surface by drawing with an oily substance (like a crayon), and only where the oily substance is not present will a water-based ink adhere. • You can also cover the entire surface scribbling with a crayon and then scratch away to ‘draw’ your pattern. Craft people call this type of material scratch boards. • The key in nanotechnology is to ‘draw’ with very fine resolution.

13. Activities • 1. Ask if any students have a mechanical pencil or a pen that has a specified line width. • The finest mechanical pencils draw a line that is 0.5 millimeters. That is 500 microns or about 1,000 times wider than the wires inside of a computer chip. • 2. Ask the students to think of some process that involves light and causes a chemical change. • sun tanning • photography. Both involve a chemical that is changed by exposure to light. • 3. Ask students to think about how both sun tanning and photography work and discuss the differences. • Both involve a chemical change that is triggered by light. • sun tanning, the light is mostly ultraviolet and the reaction involves cells that are stimulated by sun light producing a pigment. The pigment, melanin, is produced to protect cells against damage due to sunlight. • In photography, tiny silver crystals in the film are reactive to different wavelengths of visible light and produce the variety of colors

14. Back to nanotechnology and photolithography • In nanotechnology we use photolithography to transfer a pattern from a ‘mask’ to a surface. • We apply a special chemical called ‘photoresist’, which is sensitive to light, onto the surface that we want to pattern. • The mask is a stencil which allows the light energy to pass through only certain regions. So a pattern on a mask can be transferred to a surface by passing light or electrons through the mask. • When the light or the electrons reach the photoresist on the surface, the solubility of the photoresist changes making it easier or harder to wash away. • What is left after washing is the three-dimensional pattern that was originally on the mask. • It is transferred to the photoresist.

15. Photolithography Scientists use photolithography to make computer chips and other devices that have very small features, as small as 100 nanometers.

16. 3. Self-assembly Molecules self-assemble when the forces between these molecules are sufficient to overcome entropy. Entropy is what drives molecules to a low energy state. Ask students to think of an example where molecules arrange themselves into a pattern. • Snow flakes • Salt crystals • Soap bubbles

17. Snowflakes and Salt Crystals • Snowflakes form around nanoscale particles of dirt that nucleate ice crystals. As the temperature approaches the freezing point of water, the hydrogen bonds between water molecules arrange the water into a crystal pattern that grows. • Salt will assemble to form crystals. Salt crystals form as the salt molecules arrange themselves while the water evaporates. The bonds between the salt molecules are strong enough to squeeze out the water and arrange themselves to form a crystal. The different geometries of the salt molecules affect the shape of the salt crystals, so the nanoscale geometry affects the macroscale appearance of the crystal.

18. Soap Bubbles • Soap bubbles self-assemble. The soap molecules form two layers that sandwich a layer of water in between. This is because the soap molecules have one end that likes water and one that does not. So the end that does not like water is on the outside and the other end that likes the water is on the inside. The soap forms a monolayer on the inside and a monolayer on the outside of the water. Each layer of soap is a self-assembled monolayer, a single layer of molecules oriented in one direction. It is also flexible, which results in changes in the appearance (e.g., color, reflectivity) of the soap bubble.

19. Self Assembly activity Have students blow a soap bubble and observe it. • Why do the colors look like a rainbow? • White light is composed of all the visible colors. The light passing through the bubble creates a phenomenon called interference. The colors in a bubble appear because light is reflected from both the inside and the outside of the bubble at the same time. The bubble is so thin that the light reflected from the outside is either enhanced or canceled out by the light reflected from the inside. When the two sets of reflected waves are combined, they can remove or reinforce various wavelengths of light thus enhancing some colors and suppressing others. • All of this happens because the distance between the outer and inner layer of the bubble is approximately 150 nanometers, about 1/1,000 the width of a hair.

20. Schematic of Soap Bubble • Figure 7. Soap bubble schematic, home.earthlink.net/~marutgers/science/soapbasics/gifs/bubble.gif